Smoke wafts up, dying embers slowly whittling away, patches of grass that had caught aflame from Screech’s intermittently sustained fire having smoldered to dirt. My eyes trail up, and what do I see?

…I really do like stars, you know?

It’s nice… seeing them. Up in the sky, without anything to obstruct them. It’s a sight so rarely implemented, and obviously one you’ll never see in the real world, or at least, not where I live anyways. It’s one they’ve also done really well in this game, constellations weave together nearly seamlessly, it’s clearly not just thoughtlessly placed, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a quest or lore related information with how much effort there is placed into this.

Well, either way, I be cooling. Sometimes it’s nice to just unwind from a giant info dump with some relaxation, you know? Roasting something over the fire, tuning out the constant “Is it ready yet?” From Screech, just… basking in the moment.

Definitely not coping or anything, not like my strongest passive got gutted or anything. Definitely not.

“Is it ready yet?”

“Yes.”

“...Really???”

“Haaaah…”

Nope, can’t be angry, I literally asked to keep this. It’s not that bad either way, it’s endearing in a way if you think about it.

“Yup, it’s ready. At least I think it is? I’m no expert, but it looks pretty brown to me.”

“Is that how it’s supposed to look?”

“Didn’t you just hear me… you know what? Yes, that is how it’s supposed to look.”

“Great! How much can I have?”

Despite the roasted meat being well over double her size in total, I get the feeling she’ll still somehow eat the entire thing if I Give all of it to her, so I’m not going to make the mistake of saying “as much as you want!”, because it will end poorly.

“Depends on how much Jasper and Jerry want.”

“Mm.”

“So do you just never get hungry then?”

“Mmmm, MmM.”

“Right then, Jerry?”

“...Yes?”

“How much would you like?”

“Of… what?”

This time I can’t help but let my hands glide to the side of my head, I’m so very disappointed. Grasping at my temples, I take in a deep breath so as to not continue shouting at my summons, because I could already feel the flinch from Jerry with just the movement of my arms, despite him, y’know, not presently having a physical form.

“Of, the food, right there.”

“O-oh.”

“How much, would you like?”

“I-I’m alright.”

“...You’re sure.”

Because he doesn’t sound very convincing at present.

“Uh-uh huh.”

“So, what, can you just go without eating forever as well then? Do you not feel hunger, do you not want to eat anything? You can vocalize these things better than Jasper can. Please, articulate, would you?”

“I…”

“You have a passive that’s literally based off of eating things to grow stronger, don’t you? How does Screech have more appetite than you?”

It’s kind of genuinely baffling to me. He’s remarkably average in every way, he doesn’t have a trait like my other two summons as I’ve come to learn, he’s level six, has few skills and alright stats. The one thing he has over anything, he… doesn’t care to use apparently?

“I just don’t get it.”

“Fine! How much do you want me to eat?”

“Ah, that’s much better.”

I’d far prefer him speaking up rather than remaining a stuttering impassive mess, I imagine he’ll be much more useful that way if he can actively coordinate with the rest of the “party”. Though, counterintuitively, he flinches in that very Jerry way as soon as he raised his voice.

“I-I mean-”

“As much as you want. I did just ask that after all.”

“...What?”

“Please, answer the question if you will? Screech is practically about to tear my shoulder apart with how hard she’s gripping it. So, the sooner you answer, the less lacerations I’ll get, yeah?”

She’s been dealing damage as of late, so the sooner she’s not doing that the better. Not that much, but it is building up…

1!

“You know what? I’ll just summon you, chop the thing in half, you and Screech can both have one half each, that cool?”

“I-”

“Cool.”

I mean, provided butchering allows me to butcher already cooked things? I should have a knife on hand…

Pulling the roasting stick away from Screech’s fire, a notification finally goes ahead and pops up!

+78 cooking exp!

Ah, lovely.

Now… knife, work with me? Let’s go butchering…!

Oh, it actually appeared! R-a-d-i-c-a-l and that’s this chunka meat chopped right up!

+1 butchering exp!

Offering the part of it still remaining on the stick to Screech, I [Summon] Jerry in front of the chunk that hit the ground.

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“Have at it.”

Screech practically slaps the stick away from me with a gust of wind (first time she’s used anything but fire and it was for this. Wonderful.) and hops off my shoulder and straight to the ground. I don’t even need to look to figure out what happens next.

Jerry on the other hand is a bit more hesitant, but with no further communication from me and nothing to stop him, after a few seconds he does bite into the offering before him.

Ah, it feels good to be a man providing for his family.

Leaning back just enough to not topple to the ground, I continue to smile up at the night sky, the smoke now having drifted far, far away, but… all good things do have to come to an end.

In other news! I can’t beat around the bush forever… I do need to take a further look at these revisions, uuuuuuugh…

The updated version of my passive and its add on, let’s see… how did I even let this happen?

—

“Dammit.”

“Indeed! All it offers is just the teensiest bit broken, as you might imagine?”

“What about it specifically?”

“Well, how should I put this…” The woman before me taps her chin once, twice, and thrice, before sighing with a smile.

“That’s the foundation of an entire class you have there? The limit of a skill's rarity that you should be capable of getting at your level with a common class should be epic, and even then that’s about a two percent chance? But you just so happened to get an epic, a rare, recycled both, and managed to roll the one percent chance on the only unique that you were eligible for? Frankly, it’s ridiculous. If I were you, I’d be afraid of your karma Mr. Koth. Good things don’t happen this frequently without consequence.”

I shrug in response, I’m infallible you know? And I’m right a hundred percent of the time, ninety percent of the time.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“Well, no need to take my word for it. But, your skill will be adjusted, and there is no room for argument on that front. The only thing you have control over is what you’ll get in return.”

Right… so, they could give me a material item of some sort, or maybe more experience or whatever, but at the same time, this is a unique rarity ability, first of its kind ever in the entire game. I… kind of just wanna keep it!

“Is there a way for me to say, get it back in the future…?”

“Well… now that you mention it, I suppose there is… a way.”

“And that would be?” I ask and lean forward just the slightest bit.

“We could give you a nerfed version of it, but give you a way to get it back after reaching a… certain point in the game. Would that perhaps be acceptable?”

“Depends on what point in the game that would be.”

“Hmmm, well, I’ll let you in on a secret. That’s a skill you automatically get whenever you acquire a certain class. Call it a hunch, but I have the feeling you’ll end up getting that class at some point. So, instead of giving you a reacquisition method for that particular skill, you get that skill now in the form of a nerfed variant, and it’ll acquire its full power when you get the corresponding class. Additionally, you’ll also get a whole other skill slot to use due to [Bearer Of The Promised Fables] no longer taking one up. Is that… acceptable?” She tilts her head at me with a knowing smile. Though, I’m not sure what it is she knows…

“I… suppose it is.” I nod in response, getting to keep a version of it for now that’s just weaker overall and getting it back later doesn’t sound too bad, especially if I’ll be stronger in the long run. If anything that’s good for me, since even if this gets nerfed it’ll still probably be really good, just not… as good.

After a moment, she clapped to catch my attention once more. “Then we’ve come to an accord! Every problem is addressed, and everything shall be set right in due time. I take it you’re satisfied?”

I simply nod, I’m not all that miffed about this, everything went fairly well, really. I’m not going to try and argue with devs that much, I figure it probably won’t end that well. I’ve found it’s usually best to trod carefully in situations like this in the past.

“Good, good. Oh and… if I may be so bold…?”

“...Yes?”

“You might want to work on that smile of yours.”

Wh-pardon? Oh, yeah I guess I am smiling. I haven’t needed to correct it in awhile. None of my summons ever point it out, and I’ve been spending a lot of time with them as of late, for, obvious reasons.

Hey-what the hell is she doing pointing it out though??? I get it’s a creepy look but- “Rud-”

And my vision blacks out.

—

Oh, right, because it wasn’t that bad of a deal.

Fable Bearer-All monsters under the user's command gain a 25% increase to their stats. All monsters with a class of rare or above heal an additional 1% of their HP per 3 seconds while in [Recall]. The user may convert the HP, MP, or stamina of themselves equivalent recovery for a monster under their control at the cost of their own MP depending on how much is transferred.

Oh holy gut… I mean, they called it [Fable Bearer] for real this time, but what the hell they nerfed the best part of it! I can only take stats from MYSELF now, rather than everybody, which is… yikes. But, on top of that!

Latent Potential-This individual is destined for greatness. Upon fulfilling it, they will gain one extra skill hand, and an existing skill will be improved.

This thing! Which is cool, doesn’t do anything right now, but an extra free skill is nice! Very, very nice.

Despite the nerf… I keep smiling, it’s not really that bad. I’ll get it all back at some point.

It’s a raw, unfiltered smile too. Of which I now take conscious note of. Jasper doesn’t care, Screech doesn’t care, neither does Jerry… well, Jerry might care, but not that much.

It’s nice, just to be sitting here.

[Summon].

“Mm?”

“I just wanted you to be out as well, it’s a nice night.”

“...Mmh.”

To my left, a ravenous gluttonous beast which shall not be named, at my right, the inverse, and at my side, an oversized house cat.

Shame none of them are real, it’d be nice to just stick around somebody who doesn’t mind a face.

…But this isn’t so bad either.